chelyabinsk. officials are confirming reports that people discovered meteorite debris in another area. >> a small asteroid entered the earth's atmosphere and started burning. it looked like a bright fireball in the sky. the meteor fell faster than the speed of sound and we believe the shock wave is what shattered the windows. with this kind of size, it's very difficult to detect until it actually hits the earth. it's fair to say this event was completely unforeseen. >> the incident in russia,

coming ahead another out of this world event. an asteroid is on course to make a close approach to the earth, but there's is no possibility of a collision. the asteroid is called 2012 d.a. 14. scientists estimate its 45 meters in diameter and weighs 130,000 tons. it revolves around the sun about once a year. nasa analysts say it will be closest to earth on friday at 2:25 p.m. new york time. that's 4:25 a.m. on saturday in tokyo. the analysts say the asteroid will be less than 28,000 kilometers tr earth, closer than some weather satellites. speed is estimated 1.78 kilometers per second. scientists say people in japan will be able to watch the asteroid travel southwest to west early saturday morning local time by using binoculars or telescopes. nasa says asteroids of similar size have come as close once

every 40 years and collide with the earth once every 1,200 years. researchers in the united states believe north korea could be preparing a new missile launch in the wake of tuesday's nuclear test. their analysis is based on recent satellite photos of a launch site in the northeast of the country. researchers at johns hopkins university looked at images of the launch site in musendanri. they compared photos taken in january with shots from three months earlier. the photos show a crane pointing in a different direction. part of the launch pad has also been cleared of snow. the researchers say this activity could point to another missile test. the researchers also report that a new launch pad is being upgraded. they say it's been fitted with three large fuel tanks and a flame trench cover to protect large rockets from exhaust gases. they note the cover appears

similar to the one used in iran indicating possible assistance from tehran. researchers estimate construction could be completed in 2016. they say it would enable north korea to launch rockets three to four times larger than previous versions. north korean officials used the mussendanri site to launch long-range ballistic missiles in 2006 and 2009. >> south korean defense ministers remain on alert for the possibility of another nuclear test by north korea. spokesperson kim min suk said the north has been preparing for a test at a northern tunnel in addition to the western one used on sunday. the tunnel entrance appears intact and no radioactive materials have been detected. the tunnel had containment walls to prevent an outflow of blast winds. meanwhile, army commanders

are actively preparing south korean troops for military conflict. an artillery exercise held near the north korean border and the media was invited to observe. the second artillery brigade conducted a shelling drill near the demilitarized zone. self-propelled howitzers fired. soldiers checked their speed and accuracy. >> translator: if we face any military provocation, we will strike the enemy with overwhelming firepower and destroy the aggressors and their supporting units if provoked. >> video footage of recently deployed cruise missiles and intensifying efforts to deter the north. the role of women in the afghanistan army is coming into focus as more foreign troops prepare to withdraw.

here are more details. >> afghanistan security forces are set to take command of more combat operations in the coming months as foreign troops draw dawn u.s. president barack obama announced this week that another 34,000 american service personnel would return home over the next year and surprisingly, for the ultra conservative society, female afghan soldiers will play a key role, filling the vacuum. the afghan army has been training female special forces since 2011. out of the army's 195,000 recruits, more than 1,000 are women. the first females to join a special forces unit says she and her colleagues are up to the task. >> translator: i think women share the same work ethic as men, but women have to use our abilities and work shoulder to shoulder with our brothers.

i don't think it's a difficult job. women shouldn't be scared to join the army. >> army night raids are essential to capture insurgents hiding in private homes often alongside women and children. female soldiers are critical to the success of these operations. >> translator: after we finish our clearing duties during night operations, female soldiers can go in and search the women and children, so the young ones don't get too scared. female soldiers play a vital role in special forces units. >> for men and women to work alongside each other is unusual in afghanistan. many afghans believe it's unacceptable. female soldiers often face pressure from their families to quit such work. some even keep their occupations secret for the sake of their own security. indonesia is in its rainey season, traditionallyn as a

blessing for the abundant rice crops that follow. but rapid urbanization is turning fields into cities disrupting the natural flow of water. and there's rising concern that could dampen economic growth in the future. nhk world has more. >> translator: after widespread floods in the capital. more than 40 residents died and another 45,000 were forced into temporary shelters. the city center was submerged under water as deep as one meter. cars and buses were stranded. some businesses and factories were forced to close. for many foreign companies operating in jakarta, it was the case of deja vu. they suffered similar damage during the 2007 rainey season. since then, many foreign

foundries have implemented anti-flood measures. this company changed its entrance to 46 inch meters aboveground level. >> translator: we suffered damage from flooding twice in the past. we took a lesson from those experiences. and decided to take counter measures on our own. our building has a system to drain water as well as a pumping device to discharge water when it starts coming in. >> translator: this is transforming the landscape around jakarta. rice parties and ponds that used to help control the water have been refrained. rainwater with nowhere else to go quickly lands from the hard service into the river. to make matters worse, groundwater pumped up for residential usage is causing --

ground levels near the mouth of the river have fallen so much it's disrupting the flow of the river. ponds are ne pumps are needed to keep the water moving. that made the damage even worse. intensity populated jakarta faces larger scale infrastructure development. the government is harrowing to discharge channels, but local residents are reluctant to give their consent. >> translator: public officials are negotiated with told me that the local government would pay less than half the price i wanted. so i told them i'm not selling the land. >> the indonesian government wants to attract more investment from abroad. it needs to further developing infrastructure in and around the capital to give companies

confidence that their factories will be safe next raining season. nhk world, jakarta. >> that wraps up our bulletin. emerging economic powers still struggling with property. emboldened citizens still demanding democracy. the threat of violence, the push for peace, the shadow of conflict. get news and insight on south and southeast asia every weekday live from bangkok, only on nhk world "newsline." the repercussions from the hostage crisis in algeria last month continued to be felt around the world. and nowhere is that more true than in japan. of the 39 foreigners who died, 10 were japanese nationals. their deaths have caused much sorrow and ainge ner japan.

>> yoyuki hatachi is a retired employee in yokohama. he recently visited the company to pay his respects to a former colleague who died in the algerian hostage crisis. tadonari was a president of the corporation. the two men attended the same college and joined jgc within the two months of one another. they worked together on many of the same projects. takahashi remembers how devoted he was to get his work done, often working on his days off. >> translator: he always worked hard on a new project. his clients thought highly of his work. i think that was not just because of his ability, but also for his sincere approach and strong desire to be successful.

>> arata in this became involved in the algeria project three years after joining jgc. he went on to lead many other projects around the world. he became a top adviser for the firm last june. takahashi was deeply moved by aratani's death. he has decided to return to jgc because he says aratani still has many things to accomplish. >> translator: i hope to work as long as possible by carrying out his wishes. >> many people have been moved by the deaths of the japanese in algeria. thousands have visited jgc headquarters to pay their respects. they have said prayeres and left flowers. some have sent letters. they didn't consider the

deceased as just engineers. they believed they were helping to develop the algerian economy and, therefore, helping the algerian people. jgc corporation had kept the presence in the country for more than 40 years, even during the civil war in the 1990s. the story has inspired other japanese to make a change. shingo takahashi works as a systems engineer. he recently visited the international cooperation agency. the 38-year-old has been looking for a chance to take part in development work overseas. >> translator: the victims worked hard and risked their lives. i do not understand why they were killed. i may not be able to do much, but i would like to contribute to international society as much as possible.

>> takahashi and many others in japan don't want the workers to have died for nothing. they want to honor them. with their words and their actions. nhk world tokyo. frustrated japanese officials as conarthriticing information trickled in. prime minister shinzo abe says he wants to set up their own version of the u.s. national security council to deal with emergencies more effectively. >> translator: i want to create an environment where we can properly discuss diplomatic and national security issues on a daily basis from a strategic viewpoint. that will enable us to deal with matters more swiftly and with stronger political leadership. >> abe was speaking friday with

members of the council. they will discuss how they should gather and analyze intelligence. a major japanese drugmaker will launch an enterprise that will develop a drug for hard to cure muscular dystrophy. it will receive money from a state backed organization and a private sector venture capital fund. executive executives said the innovation network corporation of japan will invest a total of $17 million in the new entity. the firm is to be launched next month. the executives say they'll develop a drug together with researcheses from kobi institution and other institutions. they aim to put a drug on the market by 2020. muscular dystrophy is one example of a disease that gradually weakens the muscles. the use of government money will attract attention to a new way to reduce the burden of drug development.

>> the vision in the process is accomplished. >> we think the project can be used for other diseases as part of our business development. so we have great hopes. >> the company president said his firm will continue using state funds to develop cures for other diseases. the united states carried out nearly 70 nuclear tests in the marshall islands spanning more than a decade after world war ii. the pacific nation was under u.s. control at the time. ron gallap is one of dozens making up the marshals. it was contaminated in 1954 by radioactive fallout from a test conducted in the bikini a toll. the residents were forced to evacuate two other islands. it was only in the 1990s that the u.s. admitted responsibility

for the damage and began cleanup work. it now says the decontamination is almost over and is urging former residents to come over. >> they're awaiting the return of residents currently living elsewhere. houses are already being built. and about 70 workers asked them now -- they have done safety checks once every three months. it's been three years since foishlgs declared it safe for the islanders to come back. officials from rongelap -- there

is interest from abroad to a team from a japanese peace organization came in january. the members, including medical experts, wanted to verify the effects of the -- they measured radiation levels in 18 locations around the island's residential district. contaminated soil had been removed from there. all the readings come firmed that there is no danger to health. but prohibitive costs meant the u.s. cleanup covered only the residential area of 15 acres. the team also took measurements at nine locations that have not been cleaned up. the level at one of the places exceeded u.s. standards.

bitter experience in the past has made the islanders distrust the u.s. claims that the islander set. three years after the 1954 tests, the u.s. said rongelup was safe and the people could go back. but some who resettled developed thyroid cancer and leukemia. u.s. experts examined the situation. they detected high levels of radioactive -- in those who had returned to the island. but now that the study was made public at the time. many rongelap islands lived 650 kilometers away from their island.

the japanese team -- was exported to the red asian when she was a girl. she suffers from house programs and takes eight different drugs every day. 18 years ago, she underwent surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid. >> translator: i'm not convinced that the island is really safe. it's not yet time to return. >> the islanders met with their japanese visitors. they asked how the islands are being monitored after the nuclear accident in fukushima. it was suggested the islanders take those symeters with them.

>> i am grateful for this useful information. we should continue to tackle the problems by working together. >> amid so much uncertainty and fear, the islanders have yet to see a clear end to their struggle to regain their long homes nearly six decades after the u.s. nuclear tests. nhk world, rongelap. unsettled weather across japan today, but sunnier skies expected this weekend. meteorologist robert fetta is here with the details. robert. >> yes. across most of japan here, if you had an umbrella nearby, it was useful because seeing those rain showers all day, now it's moving towards the east. behind it, we'reeeing some of the sea effect kick up and we're seeing some of the snowfall there in northern hanshu.

that's good news for some people. showing you video of the festival taking place here in northern japan, about 100 of these snow huts called komakur were built in the festival which has lasted for over 400 years. about 20 tons of snow is used to make each one of these. you can see the people inside there enjoying a good barbecue and warm saki. it's rather nice and warm. some more snowfall on tap here to keep those going, at least threout the weekend. once you see that sea effect snow come across. about 60 centimeters is in the forecast as that northwesterly wind continues to push through. good news for the skiers. down slope, though, on to the eastern side, tokyo sunny skies will be dominating. temperatures will fall off due to that cold air moving in.

here in the north, you're seeing high pressure dominate. the warm air from the north is going to interact with that air from the south. another system is developing, it's spring. that's typically what we see for this time of year. high pressure here and the next low is start to go develop. that very well is going to move into japan by early next week. meanwhile, the tropics are quiet for the time being. monday into tuesday, very well seeing heavy rain and chances of flooding. take a look over towards the americas, florida, you're seeing some rain showers for the time being, but that is going to slowly taper off. there is a new system in the forecast here. that's going to bring rough weather towards the northeast. once it moves off the coastline, it's going to start to interact with the gulf stream, work its way down to the surface and intensify. there's some gusty winds in and around new york city. you very well could be seeing sustained winds, about 40 gusting up to 60 kilometers per

hour. and eventually up into the canadian maritime here on sunday going into monday. across the u.s., it's a holiday weekend. so something to watch out for, especially for those traveling in and out of the northeast. behind them, we have cold air working its way in. lake effect showers dipping down. warm air will pull in behind this with the next ridge. denver, you're seeing some cold temperatures to here for your high near friday. that's getting up into the double digits. this is going to pull in moisture out of the gulf of mexico. so on monday going into tuesday, a rather long range, but that's going to be the next severe weather event developing up here across much of the central plains. now, here in europe, the british peninsula, dry for the time being. a break from action. early next week, we have another storm system moving through. it's going to impact the iberian peninsula. temperatures will get cooler, as well.

lisbon with a high of 14. madrid, 15. outside of the mediterranean, we are seeing rain showers. most of europe, it's rather calm here. but temperatures are on the cold side. moscow, only minus 4 here for the high. looking towards berlin, just above the freezing mark. that's the a look at your world weather. here is the extended forecast.

we're back in 30 minutes with more of the latest. from all of us here at nhk world, thanks very much for joining us. have a great day wherever you are.